Don't deal with Ga Mantse - State Protocol advised

The Ga Paramount Stool Dsasa which comprises the four Royal Houses from which a Ga Mantse is nominated and enstooled, has asked State Protocol to stop extending courtesies to Dr Jo Blankson-Lartey in the name of Ga Mantse.

Nii Yaote Oto-Ga II, Ga Dsasetse (Kingmaker), and chairman of Heads of the-Royal Houses, said courtesies extended to Dr Jo Blankson hurt the sensibilities of the Ga people, especially, those contesting his installation as Ga Mantse.

The four Royal Houses are Nii Teiko Tsuru We, Nii Tachie Komey We, Abola Piam and Amugi We.

Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, Nii Oto-Ga said there were six legal suits pending before the Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs against the installation of Dr Blankson-Lartey as Ga Mantse and that "until the adjudication of the case, there is the need to restrain him from parading himself as Ga Mantse".

He said the Dsase has kept wise counsel all this time by resorting to legal means to resolve the issue "despite the blatant impunity with which the Ga Traditional Council, with the support of some previous government functionaries flouted our cherished traditions." We reject the posturing of the Ga Traditional Council purporting to in pose Dr Blankson-Lartey as Ga Mantse as they are not clothed with that tradition: and customary authority b the Chieftaincy Act 759 of 2008."

Nii Oto-Ga said presently, a vacuum had bee created by the wrongful installation of the Ga Mantes since both the National and Regional Houses of Chiefs have no record of some body of a status of Ga Mantse.

He said although Gas are peace-loving people and had avoided any form confrontation as they await quick and judicious resolution of the legal challenges, “all attempts to subject the good people of the Ga State, to misrepresentation of our priceless and treasured customary and traditional heritage must be rejected in al forms".

We wish to re-state that the Ga Paramount Stool Dsase is the only tradition• ally and customarily man• dated body of kingmaker, responsible for the nomination selection and enstoolment of Ga Mantse" he said.

He called on the National Security Coordinator to investigate as a matter of urgency the use of hired land guards and thugs to visit mayhem on the people of Ga Mashie for taking a stand against the installation of the Ga Mantse.

Nii Oto-Ga said they were not playing the political card because there is a change of government, "but we want the government to be neutral in this chieftaincy dispute so that the truth takes its course."

He said Ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor had talked about complexity around the installation "that is why he stayed away when invited, yet some people within his government who were bent on changing the tradition of the Gas gave governmental approval".

Nii Oto-Ga said the Ga State has been engulfed in numerous chieftaincy disputes as most of the chiefs at the Ga Traditional Council have rivals contending their stools.

"We must not allow such an abomination to continue and that is why we have remained calm for an adjudication of the matter instead of installing a rival Ga Mantse," he said.

Nii Oto-Ga asked those who have been conniving and perpetrating such misdeed against the Ga State to change their ways, stressing that the Ga Dsase still stands by the peace that has characterized the unique nature of the good people of the Ga State.

The heads of the four Royal Houses at the conference were Nii Bi Nii Teiko Tackie, Head of Nii, Teiko Tsuru We, Nii Agyemankese II, Head of Nii Tackie Komey We, Nii Yaya Addy, Head of Abola Piam We, and Nii Okai Mensah IV, Head of Amugi We.

When contacted by the Times, the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Tawiah III declined any comment except to say that “if that is the path the kingmakers have chosen I thank God for that".